The owner of a horse and carriage ride service in Cleethorpes is frustrated with the council over the route that has been allocated to him.

Sam Norris, 29, was granted a licence to run his business in the resort in March of this year, but says that it will be very hard to make any success from it because of where North East Lincolnshire Council is saying he is allowed to pick up customers from.

Mr Norris had to acquire a hackney carriage licence in order to set up his business, and has been told that because of this he can only pick up customers from designated hackney carriage points, and that the only one that he can use during the day is on Grant Street opposite The Swashbuckle.

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Sam Norris' carriage in its lock-up as he feels the current route designated by the council will not make his business worthwhile

He feels that this decision will have an adverse effect on his business, as Grant Street is not a street with a heavy footfall, especially among tourists and visitors to the pier, who would be his primary customer base, as it is located off of the main high street, and hidden away from anyone at the pier front.

He said: "Since being told that I can start the business in Cleethorpes I have been down to the pick-up point a number of times on sunny weekends and bank holidays, and got almost no business at all, with people coming up wondering why I was parked there and not down at the pier front.

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"I have asked the council why I cannot use one of the vacant hackney carriage ranks on Sea Road, but they have told me that it would be too dangerous as there are too many road traffic collisions down there, and my carriage would only add to that, although I have never thought of that area as an accident hotspot.

"I have spent over £15,000 trying to get this business off the ground, and so far it has taken me over three years to make any progress what so ever, only managing to get a meeting with the council over my licence this year, despite first contacting them in 2014 regarding the business.

"On their request I have got all of the best equipment for my horses and carriage, even having an MOT carried out it, which was hard to find someone to do.

"You see the thing is I want to be able to pick people up along the pier, which just makes sense in my opinion, I just don't understand why I am being told I have no choice but to go outside of a pub, away from all of the amusements and attractions.

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"I have always tried to do things by the book and set up an honest business, and I would be willing to pay rent in order to set up my own designated pick-up point, but the last time I contacted the council about changing the pick-up point it took 11 weeks to get a response.

"At the moment my carriage is just gathering dust in a lock-up because until I can resolve the route issue, it doesn't seem like there is any real point in wasting my time tucked away down a side street."

An NELC spokesperson said: “We’re aware of the concerns and we’ve given Mr Norris a full explanation about the route his rides must take.”